AFTER four-month-long time critical removal action on Saipan, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Monday afternoon detonated unexploded ordnance found in Marpi.
An unexploded ordnance, otherwise known as a UXO or dud, is a military munition that has been primed, fused, armed, or otherwise prepared for action; has been fired, dropped, launched, projected, or placed in such a manner as to constitute a hazard to operations, installations, personnel, or material; and remain unexploded either by malfunction, design, or any other cause.
In layman’s terms, it is a fired round that did not explode, a munitions and explosive of concern, or MEC.
Prior to the construction of the H.O.P.E. Recovery Center, the compound was used as a defense site by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The USACE said the U.S. government or DoD may have contributed to munitions-related contamination at the ordnance plan munitions response site, or MRS.
The MRS is a formerly used defense site, or FUDS, which is defined as a property that was formerly owned, leased to, or otherwise possessed by the U.S. and has since been released to the private sector or other non-DoD government agencies that may require environmental restoration as a result of contamination associated with former DoD use.
FUDS properties fall under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Defense and the U.S. Army is the lead agency with the USACE executing the program.
The MRS is the current boundary defining the FUDS.
The ordnance plan MRS consists of 4,24- acres located at the northern end of Saipan.
The area of concern, or AOC, has undergone various development to include the current H.O.P.E. Recovery Center.
The MRS contains a significant amount of World War II ordnance to include 3-inch, 75-millimeter, 90-millimeter, 105-millimeter, and 105-millimeter projectiles; 60- and 81-millimeter mortars; and hand grenades.
The project team conducted archaeological and environmental surveys prior to the field activities, relocated H.O.P.E. Recovery Center staff and clients to a local hotel, mobilized staff and resources for the project effort, removed vegetation, and had civil surveyors delineate property boundaries, structures, roads, and walkways.
They also removed munitions and related debris to a depth of a foot within the AOC using handheld metal detectors, or analog geophysical methodologies, across the entire area.
100% of the AOC digital geophysical mapping, or DGM, was surveyed.
Post analog DGM clearance methodologies were then implemented.
Many holes were dug after detecting munitions, then filled in after clearing the area.
Intrusive work was overseen by an archaeologist and a biologist.
Recovered munitions were properly disposed at Marpi Point by controlled detonation, and recovered and inspected munitions debris shipped off-island for recycling.
The H.O.P.E. Recovery Center operations were then relocated back to its home site.
In total, 1,939 MEC items were recovered and detonated at Marpi Point; 186,960 analog anomalies dug by hand; 5,368 DGM anomalies dug by hand; and 76,007 pounds of munitions debris inspected and processed for recycling.
The project team consisted of 72nd Honolulu District Commander LTC Eric S. Marshall, district program manager Lori Wong, district project manager Justin Bac, and ordnance and explosives safety specialist Steven Jones from the USACE Honolulu District; project manager Becky Terry, technical manager Kelly Longberg, and quality assurance geophysicist Amy Walker from the USACE Engineering & Support Center in Hunstville, Alabama; project point-of-contact Joshua Santos from the CNMI Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality, CNMI program manager Carl Goldstein from the U.S. Environmental Proection Agency Region IX; and project manager Scott Schroepfer, deputy project manager Matt Tucker, and senior UXO supervisor Joel Sanders from HydroGeoLogic, Inc.
The stakeholder team consisted of the BECQ, the Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, the Department of Community & Cultural Affairs Division of Historic Preservation, the Department of Public Lands, the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, the CNMI & US Fish and Wildlife Service, the USACE POH, the USACE CEHNC, and the USEPA Region IX.
Unexploded ordnance was detonated in Marpi on Monday afternoon.
